Equal before God

You can listen to this message here: https://youtu.be/8PKjPA4UY0w  

 Many of you might remember the TV comedy show, The Smothers Brothers. The trademark line the older brother – Tommy – made nearly every show to his younger brother, Dick, was: “Mom always did like you best.”

 

Tommy’s timing and delivery always brought laughter to the audience. But real life is not like television. And as every good parent knows, when they play favorites among their children, the results are often not pretty.

 

A classic example of parental favoritism is in the family of Jacob and his 12 sons – one of whom was Joseph.  Joseph, clearly Jacob’s favorite was no angel. Scripture tells us he often came off as a spoiled brat, making sure his brothers knew he was dad’s favorite.

 

As you remember the story, the brothers finally had enough, and they seized their opportunity to sell him into slavery in Egypt. Not a pretty result of parental favoritism.

 

And so, we come to our first text for today. You’ll find it in Romans 2, verse 11: For there is no partiality with God. Seven words – but weighty words that ought to encourage every child of God.

 

Encourage? “How?” you might ask.

 

The context of this verse is important – as is the context of every text of Scripture. This particular verse is surrounded by God’s declaration of judgment against sin. Chapter one closes this way: “And although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Chapter two begins where chapter one left off, that God is not partial to His people Israel, nor to the Gentiles, warning both groups that God’s wrath is reserved for those who continue in sin, BUT God’s mercy is reserved for those – Jew and Gentile – who turn to God in repentance.

 

God is as impartial with judgment as He is with blessing. And that ought to be encouraging news because impartiality before God means we are all on level ground at the foot of Calvary’s cross. As St. Jerome correctly reminds us: “We are all born equal, emperors and paupers, and we die as equals.”

 

God sees each of us impartially. When Jesus spoke of a sparrow falling to the ground, and that God numbers each of our hairs – Jesus was not speaking in hyperbole. He was making a critically important personal point.

 

In His impartiality, God loves equally every person among us. Everyone who is invisible to the crowd, every popular one, every shy one, or boisterous, or lonely, or lost. There is not a person on earth whom God does know equally and on a most intimate level. And there is not a person on this earth with whom He does not passionately desire to have reconciled relationship with Him through the blood of the Cross.

 

And so, He tells us in Colossians "For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” (1:19-22)

Further, because He is impartial and desires every man, woman, and child to be reconciled with Himself, He talks with each person. He reveals Himself to each person – to the degree that person is willing to listen. Sometimes He speaks through nature itself: Psalm 19 “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge.”

 

Sometimes He speaks through the encouragement or the chastisement of others.

 

But I think most often He speaks to us through Scripture. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). 

 

If God did not speak to us through nature, or through others, or through the Scriptures, then it would make no sense for Jesus to say repeatedly in the Gospels and in His letters to the seven churches in Revelation: He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

 

When anyone speaks to you from the word of God – which is “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow, and exposes our innermost thoughts and desires” (Hebrews 4) – when anyone speaks accurately from God’s word – God Himself is speaking to us by His Holy Spirit.

 

Let me say that again: Every time we hear God’s word taught or preached faithfully and accurately – we hear from God.  I stress the words faithfully and accurately because YOU and I are responsible also to test what we hear against the scriptures. WE are responsible to verify what we hear taught or preached. Just as the Bereans who – as St. Luke tells us – were more “noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

 

What things were they verifying? The things St. Paul had been teaching them!

 

If God called the Bereans ‘noble-minded’ because they verified the teaching of St. Paul, then no preacher or teacher today ought to be offended if the people he or she teaches verify their words as well.

 

Let me give you an example of the importance to trust -- but  verify.

In 1995 Northwest Airlines flight 52 headed across the Atlantic from Detroit to Frankfurt. But when they landed in Europe, their predictably routine flight turned unpredictable. As the plane made its approach to the airport, an embarrassed captain clicked on his microphone and announced that they were landing at the wrong airport. In fact, they were landing in the wrong country.

Federal Aviation Administration officials immediately set out to learn the error occurred. Why had European air traffic control relayed incorrect course headings to the jumbo jet?  Why did the flight crew fail to cross-check their position on cockpit navigation instruments?  

Whatever the reason for the mishap, investigators quickly determined that no one purposely led the plane astray. The whole thing was simply an embarrassing accident.

When I first read this story years ago, I wondered if there is a spiritual parallel between this story and the way many people travel through life. Now I am convinced of it.

If we believe the polls, most people expect to arrive safely in heaven when their life is over. However, if we believe Scripture, many of these same people will be horrified to discover they have landed in the wrong place (see Matthew 7:21-23). Air traffic control accidentally misdirected the Northwest flight, but Satan purposely misdirects humanity, transmitting deceptive course headings to anyone naïve enough to follow. How many people have followed his directions?

 

All religions lead to the same place. There is no absolute truth. God is a creation of superstitious minds. We are all gods - or can become gods. Jesus Christ was a great teacher, but He certainly is not Almighty God incarnate in human flesh. The Bible’s idea of what constitutes sexual immorality is archaic. Modern culture is more updated and much more tolerant. Christ’s virgin birth and physical resurrection are myths. Hell is empty. A loving God would never send souls to an eternal lake of fire.

 

Flight 52 followed the wrong signals to the wrong airport. Likewise, those who navigate their lives without VERIFYING God’s directions from the Word of God are facing an ultimate destination far afield from the heavenly destination they seek.

 

It was for good reason Jesus warned: Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, warns the Lord Jesus, but inwardly are ravenous wolves (Matthew 7:15). I am the way, and the truth, and the life, Christ declares. No one comes to the Father, but by Me (John 14:6).

 
Where are we going? From whom are we taking our course headings? Are we making frequent life corrections according to the Book, or are we navigating according to the popular philosophies of the hour? These are much more than mere academic questions casually considered over a cappuccino. One day each of us will roll to a stop at the final gate.  

Let me repeat for emphasis my earlier comment: Those who teach should be careful about what they teach. And those who are taught should be careful about what they are taught.

So back to our text: God is no respecter of persons. He does not play favorites. He is not partial to ANY!

 

He wants everyone to be reconciled with Himself, and He speaks – especially through His word when it is taught accurately – He speaks to every person on this planet so that we can not only BE reconciled, but also become more intimate with Him.

 

But there is one more point we must visit regarding God’s impartiality; He commands us to treat each other the same way -- impartially.

Listen to what St. James tells us: “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” (James 2)

Let me say it again. God treats each one of us IMPARTIALLY. No one is superior to another. No one is more valuable than another. No one is more important than another. And God commands us to treat all people in the same way.

 

Anything less than impartiality is sin. Furthermore, He wants us to see the invisible among us. He wants us to recognize the hurting among us. Even those in this building. Even those in this room! The quiet ones. The confused ones. The ones who smile and say little and often sit alone. They are the ones without many friends and with few people to talk to beyond the cordial. “Good morning.”

 

Our Father in heaven wants us to hurt when they hurt, to come along side and help as we can help and NOT be like those who say, “Be warmed, and be filled,” but then do not give them when we can give them.

 

Some of you are familiar with the church hymn, Take Time to be Holy. Here are some of the lyrics:

 

Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.

 

Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.

 

Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
And run not before Him, whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.

 

Holiness does not mean we walk around with a halo atop our heads. It means we do as best as we can do each day – and striving to do better every day – to reflect Jesus to others.

 

Christian, MAKE time to be holy. Speak oft with your Lord. And strive to live like He lived each day of your life.